Question of the Week: What’s a Good Ultimate Spider-Man Reading Order?

May 2nd, 2014 saw the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (may we all live long and forget), and for many comic fans, that’s the superlative most frequently associated with our favorite webhead: The Amazing Spider-Man. It’s the title that Stan and Steve built, and it’s the most established for good reason.

Nonetheless, it’s the relatively pubescent Ultimate Spider-Man that will be influencing the film most strongly, and to my mind it’s Ultimate Spider-Man that new fans of Spidey should be most interested in catching up on.

I tweeted as much on Good Friday, and that leads us to this week’s question of the week:

@ComicBookHerald do you recommend reading the ultimate comics in order or can I just read ult spiderman straight though

Do you recommend reading the ultimate comics in order or can I just read ultimate Spider-Man straight through?

Whereas many Marvel heroes and teams have a convoluted history of impenetrable continuity (I’m looking at you Avengers), Ultimate Spider-Man is one of the easiest titles any new reader can dive into. There are a handful of exceptions which I’ll discuss, but for the most part you can pick up Ultimate Spidey and plow through over a hundred issues uninterrupted by questions like “Wait, who’s a Skrull?”

You Want Me To Read The Ultimate Universe? Not For Me!

A brief history lesson: As Marvel bounced back from a late 90’s bankruptcy (this is still amazing to me; this was like yesterday), the editorial team was looking for ways to draw in new readers. This became particularly important with the upcoming X-Men and Spider-Man movies finally giving the world the Marvel universe in a cinematically palatable form.

The Ultimate universe was launched in 2000 as a way to reimagine the Marvel universe and characters for a modern audience. As any reader can attest, the Ultimate universe offered unparalleled opportunity to redefine solidified canonical elements of Marvel story, such as the origins of Spider-Man.

There’s an understandable concern with the Ultimate Universe that it will read as nothing more than an echo of the originals, or that it will desecrate the beloved stories with attention-grabbing twists that miss the core of what makes a character special.

This is why I held off on the Ultimate Universe for a long time. I already know Spider-Man’s origins. And I know most of his major stories. Why would I read these again, but in a watered-down form?

The answer is simply that Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley wound up delivering the most satisfying, cohesive Spider-Man saga of the decade. They took those elements we all love about Spidey, and over the course of 9 years, they carefully rearranged them into 133 issues of near perfect Peter Parker.

And then Bendis and various artists kept going.

And reinvented Spider-Man.

And Ultimate Spider-Man hasn’t missed a beat.

Ok, It’s Good – Can I Read Ultimate Spider-Man All the Way Through Or What?

Longtime Marvel 616 (main Marvel universe) readers know that reading a Marvel series isn’t necessarily as simple as picking up every issue in that series. You likely have to contend with tie-in issues and crossovers to major events to understand the full context of the Marvel Universe and your selected character’s place in it.

Ultimate Spider-Man rarely suffers from this. Which ultimately, is amazing.

Ultimate Spider-Man Reading Order

Honestly, you can plow through the first 133 issues of Spidey and almost never branch outside the Ultimate Spider-Man title. The primary exceptions come in the form of separate Spidey stories told under different series titles. These are outlined in bold below:

Here’s our first foray into non-Spidey titles. Ultimate Marvel Team-Up is not necessarily essential to USM continuity, but it does offer a lot of fun team-up stories. Rather than clutter the pages of USM with “This is how Spidey met Wolverine” stories, Marvel Team-Up offers a place to enhance Spidey’s place in the larger Ultimate universe. It’s fun, recommended reading.

To my mind the most essential non-USM tie-in series. For all intents and purposes, these are Ultimate Spider-Man issues, just given a new name. This semi-inexplicable separation has probably led to more Ultimate Spider-Man related confusion than anything else. This is a must read – the Ultimate universe Sinister Six!

Does not really impact USM, but the Ultimate Gah Lak Tus trilogy occurs during these issues.

Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #1

Ultimate Spider-Man #86 – #105

Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2

Ultimate Spider-Man #106 – #120

Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3

Ultimate Spider-Man #121 – #128

The relatively clear sailing is interrupted from this point forward by the events of Ultimatum.

Normally, with an event, I’d simply recommend you read the event issues interspersed with the USM tie-ins as they fit. With Ultimatum the recommendation is far from simple.

A search for “Ultimatum worst comic book of all time” generates 279,000 Google results. It is legitimately hailed as “the worst of the worst” by many, and with good reason. I can’t possibly address all my thoughts on Ultimatum in this space, but I will say that the series is fascinatingly disruptive. As comics, it is historically confrontational. It is a middle finger straight up the noses of anyone who has supported the Ultimate Universe. It’s impact and what it means for comic books, is endlessly interesting.

But that’s for another day.

For now, here are the Ultimatum issues and how they should be read in conjunction with USM. Again, just like you don’t have to whip yourself with a belt, or eat hot coals, you don’t have to read Ultimatum. But if you want to, this is how you’d do it:

After Ultimatum, Ultimate Spider-Man reboots with new numbering. It’s the same series, just with a new #1 issue in the wake of Ultimatum’s devastating impact.

There’s a temptation to consider this relaunch slightly less essential than that epic #133 issue run. The shift in art direction from Bagley/Immonen to David LaFuente also takes a readjustment. Simply put, USM starts to feel more like you’re reading a comic for children.

I’d recommend sticking with the title, as it will pick up very quickly.

This marks another end for USM, this time with an event that I literally can’t even name without spoiling. You’ve probably heard about it, it’s significant, but just in case you’re dodging spoilers like a mad person, I’ll avoid naming it.

Technically, there are tie-ins to this USM event in the pages of Ultimate Comics Avengers vs. New Ultimates. I think you can get by with just the USM issues, but if you want the full experience, I’d just make sure you do the first four issues of Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates before USM #158. From there, UA vs. NU #5 & #6 can be read after USM concludes with #160.

From here, Ultimate Spider-Man is interrupted by Divided We Fall, United We Stand. This is probably the most significantly tied-into an event USM gets. You don’t have to read the Ultimates issues here, but they do actually explain quite a bit of what’s going on in the world of Ultimate Spider-Man. There are Ultimate X-Men tie-ins that fit in here as well, but for the purposes of a USM reading order, I’d stick to spidey and the Ultimates. Fortunately all issues are collected in one trade here.

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About Dave

Dave is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Comic Book Herald, and also the Boss of assigning himself fancy titles. He's a long-time comic book fan, and can be seen most evenings in Batman pajama pants. Contact Dave @comicbookherald on Twitter or via email at dave@comicbookherald.com.

I’m looking to get into marvel after the ultimate universe and after secret wars, i want to follow miles morales but also other stories that tie in strongly and read events what order should I read from all new all different marvel, I know you made a list but i don’t want to read them all

I’d put the Spider-Men event after Divided We Fall, since Miles meets May and Gwen in the latter, meanwhile in Spider-Men he’s just chilling with them no big deal so it would make sense for it to be after

@dave Thanks, would you happen to know anywhere I could download the Miles Morales issues beginning after Ultimate Fallout, preferably with the Ultimates Tie-ins and Spider-Men story? Also, preferably in the form of CBR, PDF or RAR

Well, Comixology or Marvel Unlimited will give you the comics, but not in transferable files.

I don’t really know of any legit sources that allow .CBR or PDF downloads (which is such a bummer). I’m not a big torrent guy, but if you just Google “ultimate marvel comics .cbr files” there are 2 sources on the first page with pretty much exactly what you’re looking for.

Cool, thanks, I’m almost done with my Ultimate Spider-Man reading order, I’ve gotten numbered folders with each group of comics in it, just wondering, Does Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man begin right after Cataclysm?

Cataclysm happens after USM # 28. You could either get the 20 issue book or the Ultimates Last stand books along with the USM issues. Miles does a lot in the Ultimates 5 issues as well. You could also try to find the few Hunger issues as well…or just get the Cataclysm book; it has all the issues and the different perspectives as well. It’s a pretty good read. As for issue 200, I’m still trying to figure that out too. I’m starting to think that it must fall within the Spider-men issues.